1. Field of the Invention.
The subject invention relates to digital scales. More particularly, it relates to digital postal scales.
Digital postal scales are well known. Such scales are generally microprocessor controlled and generate a digital signal representative of the weight of a mail piece (i.e., an item to be mailed). The microprocessor determines the appropriate postage amount for the mail piece. As a function of the weight signal and other informtion input by an operator (e.g., class of service), in accordance with a predetermined algorithm. Details of the computation of such postage amounts are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,325; to: Dlugos et al.; for: SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMPUTING DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE; issued: Aug. 25, 1981.
Despite the rapid development of microprocessors and their ability to rapidly process data, the rate at which known postal scales can process mail pieces is limited by the rate at which the scales can determine the weight of a mail piece, as will be described further below. Thus the time required to determine the appropriate postage amount for a mail piece might typically be of the order of seconds, even though determination of the postage amounts per se would be essentially instantaneous once the weight was determined.
Prior approaches to the problem of improving the response of digital postal scales have included mechanical structures which would more rapidly return to a stable state after a mail piece was placed on the scale, and mathematical/statistical techniques used to attempt to "predict" the ultimate stable state relatively early in the response of the scale. Such attempts have naturally intended to increase both the complexity and cost of digital postal scales.
Thus it is an object of the subject invention to decrease the average time required for a digital postal scale to determine the appropriate postage amount for a mail piece.
It is a further object to decrease the average determination time for a digital postal scale without mechanical change to the scale.
It is another object of the subject invention to decrease the average determination time of a digital postal scale in a manner which is simple and inexpensive to implement.